Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve

Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve (13 February 1612 – 9 September 1676) was a French military officer and the founder of Ville-Marie, now the city of Montreal.

Early life Maisonneuve was baptised on 15 February 1612 at Neuville-sur-Vannes in Champagne, France. He was the son of Louis de Chomedey, seigneur of Chavane, Germenoy-en-Brie, and his second wife Marie de Thomelin, the daughter of Jean de Thomelin, a king's counsellor and a treasurer of France in the generality of Champagne, and of Ambroise d’Aulquoy.

Paul de Chomedey grew up in the manor-house at Neuville-sur-Vanne, not far from the Maisonneuve seigneury which his father had acquired in 1614. He had two sisters and one brother. He began his military career at 13 in Holland, where he also learned to play the lute.

Governor of Montreal

In 1642, Ville-Marie was founded on the southern shore of the Island of Montreal, where a chapel and a small settlement were built. A hospital, under the leadership of Jeanne Mance, was also established. Maisonneuve was the first governor of Montreal.

Nuns' Island was once called Île Saint-Paul in honour of the founder of Montreal. The current name of the island appears starting from the 19th century and was exclusively used from the 1950s on.

The Maisonneuve Monument was erected in 1895 on Place d'Armes in Old Montreal, to his memory. It is the work of Louis-Philippe Hébert (1850–1917). An imaginary model was used to represent Maisonneuve, as no authentic portrait exists of the first governor of Montreal.

De Maisonneuve Boulevard and Rue Chomedey in Downtown Montreal are named for him, as are Maisonneuve Park, the Collège de Maisonneuve, the neighbourhood of Chomedey in Laval, and the Maisonneuve pavilion, a dormitory at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean.

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